Tom Brechtlein: Trouble Grooves

By Tom Brechtlein

Originally published in the February/March 1998 issue of DRUM! Magazine

Brechtlein here. I’ve got some more groove ideas to throw out to you. You see, writing this column is good for me. Why? Well, when I come up with these ideas I write them out for you, and then, hopefully, you try them out. Then I get e-mail telling me if it worked out or if you got yelled at on the bandstand for being totally unmusical. If the latter is the case, then I won’t use that groove in my vocabulary. You see, you are my guinea pigs.

Just kidding!

The following are just some more grooves I’ve come up with (or stolen from other great players) that will get you in big trouble on the bandstand ... or maybe not.

Exs. 1 and 2 are sort of Clyde Stubblefield gone cross-eyed, or shall I say, usage of sixteenth-note displacement on the snare drum and bass drum. Ex. 3 is in the style of ’80s Miles Davis with Al Foster, moved over one quarter-note. And if you don’t want to bother with ghost notes, try Ex. 4.

Well, there it is, folks. Remember, if you get in trouble with these, don’t blame me.